Oil cooler



May 8, 1923 R. C. JONES OIL COOLER Filed Feb. 18 1920 Patented May 8,1923.

Russian. c. Jorms'or imoimvrnmi, Nnw Yonx, s'ssreno'a rro an emseoi-nussnri f j comrnmz, or new YORK,

A. conrona'rron, orgnmwsnn.

'oincoonnnf Application medIebi-uary 1s, oz'c. s mi in}. 355,60

To whom it may concern}- the 'far side of the in the of 36.

p B ait known that I, Russnrn Jonas, a the flow of the oil, the congealed oil gradu citizen. of the United States, residing at. ally accumulating in the shape of afillet Bronxville in the county of Westchester, a State of ew' York, have invented, certain new and useful Improvements in Oil Coolers' and-I do hereby declare. the following .to be a full, clear, and exact description of g the invention, such as will enable others lo skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same. This invention relates to improvements in oil coolers, particularly of the t pe disclosed in the atent to R. C.-Jones, 0. 1,335,506, issued arch 30, 1920. f

The object of the present invention is to provide a heat exchanger and particularly a cooler of the type above mentioned in which the surfaces of the heat transferring tubes are scoured throughout their len 11 so that there will beno' accumulation 0 congealed oil at any point along the length of the tube. The scouring action takes lace continuously during the operation 0 the apparatus and serves to maintain the heat transferring surfaces of the tubes at all times in condition for the most advantageous heat transfer.

Oil coolers of the kind described in my copending application above referred to consist essentiall of a shell with inlet and outlet passages or the oil to be cooled, the shell containing a series of longitudinal tubes through which the cooling liquid is circulated. Supported within the shell is a series of baflle'plates connected together to form a continuous helical passa efrom the inlet to the outlet passage 0 the shell, whereby in traversing the short length of 40 the shell the-oil is caused to pass again and again across the tubes containing the cooling liquid, thus providing in an apparatus of small dimensions a passage for the oil man times the length of the shell whereby an e fective cooling of the oil is obtained. As v constructed for actual commercial use the bafiie plates are of perforated for the passage of the tubes which are set close together in the shell. As originally constructed it was found that there was a tendency of the oil to congeal in the corners at the intersection of the tubes and the bafiie plates, particularly on he'atfrom the oil to the liquid.

tubes acting to scour the congealed oil 01f as improved oil cooler;

from the inlet passage other end by a floatin sheet iron, each shaped T to constitute a single turn of the screw and which rendered a considerable portion of the tubesurfa'ce in'efl'ective for the transfer-{of is thepurpose of the resent invention to prevent this accumulation of' congealed oil, which purpose is secured cssentia lyby providing a clearance between the battles and the, tubes sufficient to cause a slight shortcircuiting of a portion of'the oil along each tube from one section of the helical-bathe to the next, the flow of the oil under pressure through the narrow passage around-the I0 rapidl asit forms, whereby the tubes are he to can throughout their length n the accompanying drawings-1,1 have illustrated my improvement a plied tea cooler of the. character disclose in my said patent, and in said drawings,

Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of my Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the central portion of my improved cooler; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged details showingKthe improved b'afile construction.

eferring'to the drawings, 1 i dicates the shell. through which the oil is circulated 2 to the outlet passage 3. p a

, he cooling liquid is circulated throu h tubes 4 supported at'one end in. the tu sheet 5 clamped against one end of the shell by a service header 6 and supported at the head or drum 7 which is mounted to sli e longitudinally of the shell in a packed bearing 8 with the expansion and contraction of the tubes. The service header 6 is divided into' inlet and outletcompartments by a transverse partition, whereby the cooling liquid passes from the inlet 9 through the tubes at the upper half of the bundle, thence through the floating head 7 to the outlet 10.

The oil is caused to flow transversely of the tubes through the shell by a spiral 'bafie made up of separate plates 11, each bent to form a single helix of the spiral 'withthe edges of the adjacent helices aligned with *each other and in some cases attached toprovide a long narrow passage for the oil from the inlet to the outlet through which the oil may be forced with an appreciable velocity in order to prevent its congealmg on the tubes. The separate bafiie plates 11 are preferably maintained in properly spaced relation by short sleeves or th mbles 12 mounted on rods 13 arranged around the periphery of the tube bundle and abuttlng at their opposite ends against the tube sheet 4 and floating head "7, respectively. The baflie plates 11 are preferably cut out at the center to receive a rod 14: whose ends are supported in recesses in the tube sheet and header. 7

The apparatus so far described is the same as that disclosed in my patent referred to above. In the improve construction shown in the drawings, the baffle plates, in-

stead of closely fitting the tubes at the points a of intersection of the tubes and plates, have the holes for the passage of the tubes of larger diameter than the tubes, as shown particularly in Fig. '3 of the drawings, whereby there is provided an annular passage 15 through the baflies around each tube forming, as it were, a short-circuit from one turn of the helix to the adjacent turn. These short-circuiting passages serve several useful functions. In the first place, the most important, they prevent the accumulation of congealed oil at any point on the tube surface. The annular passage, while wide enough not to be stopped with sediment or oil film, is narrow enough to insure a rapid velocity of the oil through the passage forming, as it were, large numbers of cross currents of oil which extend well into.

the main current of oil, following the spiral path between the baflies. These cross currents keep the tube surfaced scoured. clean on all sides, particularly at the intersection of the baflie plates where the main current of oil would otherwise be at low velocity. Thecross currents also serve to keep the oil well agitated, thereby increasing the ethciency by constantly bringing fresh oil against the heat-absorbing surfaces of the tubes; The agitation of the oil through the cross currents also counteracts the tendency of the oil to acquire a higher velocity at the surface of the shell through the effect of centrifugal force and prevents the formation of ockets at the middle of the shell.

It wil be understood that it is only the holes in the bafile plates for the passage of the tubes which are of enlarged diameter, the baflies fitting closely on the center rod 14 and also on the peripheral rods '13. These latter rods, instead of abutting against the flat faces of the tube sheet and head 7, may be set in sockets formed in the faces of the sheet and head wall, whereby the baflles will be maintained in fixed relation to the tubes so that the tubes will be aeeaoaa my patent above mentioned, it is to be understood that the improvement may be applied with advantage to other forms of baflies, and

the invention is not to be understood as limited to my prior structure, except in so far as recited in the appended claims.

I have described my invention as particularly applicable to a heat exchan r in which both heat transferring 1i ui s are oils. It is evident, however, that t e appw r-atus is equally applicable for efiecting heat transfer between any two liquids either one of which is a liquid whose vlscosity changes with temperature. The apparatus may be advantageously employed in effecting heat transfer between non-viscous liquids in cases where it is desired to scour the tubes'clean of impurities or other substances which may be contained in the liquid.

I 'claim: 1 v

1. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a shell for the circulating liquid, means in said shell for causing a main current of said liquid to flow in acircuitous path, and means for causing sec fluid, baflies in said shell arranged to cause a main current of said liquid to be treated in a circuitous path across said tubes, 1 and means for causing auxiliary cross currents of said liquids along the tube surfaces.

4. In an apparatus of the class described,

the combination of a shell for the fluid to be treated, tubes extending through said shell for a second fluid, said shell having inlet and outlet openings, baflies in said shell arranged to provide a circuitous passage from the inlet to the outlet opening, and passages through the said bafiles for producing cross currents in the fluid in directions different from the main current along the baffles.

. 5. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a shell having inlet and outlet passages for the fluid to be treated,

baflies arranged in said shell forming a'con tinuous CH'CUllJOHS passage from inlet to outlet opening, tubes in said shell for the pasondary cross currents in said main current, Y

sage of the second fluid, said tubes projectpassa e from the inlet to the outlet opening through said bafiles and passages ing, tubes extending longitudinally of said through said bafiies around said tubes for shell and passing through said baflie in reducing cross currents in the fluid flowparallelism with the axis of the spiral and 5 mg through said passage from the inlet to annular passages in said baflles at the inthe outlet of the shell. tersection of the tubes and the baffles as and 6. In an apparatus of the class described, for the purpose set forth. the combination of ashell, inlet and outlet In testimony whereof I aflix my signaopenings for the fluid to be treated, a bafile ture. 10 in said shell forming a continuous spiral RUSSELL C. JONES. 

